U.S. crude oil futures hit a record $100 a barrel

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures hit a record $100 a barrel on Wednesday, surging more than $4 as violence in OPEC members Nigeria and Algeria combined with a weak dollar and a cold snap to boost crude futures.

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Fresh buying at the new year was also cited as helping lift the oil futures complex.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:17 p.m. EST, February crude was up $2.67 or 2.78 percent at $98.65 a barrel, trading from $96.05 to $100.00, a record front-month high, eclipsing the previous record of $99.29 hit November 21.

Oil hits record $100 a barrel - Yahoo! News

Single digits here tonight...

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

I was watching CNBC when it happened, it was only one trade and was a small paper trade, not a larger trade by a hedge fund or other large company. While the news was still...scary, and one trade was bad enough, it could be very bad this summer.

I filled up my gas tank on the way home.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

It could be worse. Gas is still $5 to $9/gallon higher than what we pay in the US for Europeans. As expensive as it seems to us the rest of the world still complains about our cheap gas causing a lot of the problems with oil supplies. Forget about the developing countries like China and India that have become major buyers on the market helping to force prices higher.

I still have another year left on my lease/buy option. I'll be watching closely to see if I can afford to keep these cars another 3 years on the buy option or if it's going to get bad enough to get of the SUV's and into something more economical at the gas pumps. We're lucky in that we drive about 40% of the average Amercan. Unfortunately that makes it tough to trade to a higher gas milage car. When you don't drive as many miles the yearly savings in gas isn't high enough to overcome the extra expense of trading in a perfectly good low milage vehicle with 30% less gas milage than the newer models.

[aliikai2 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close aliikai2]

The real news isn't the cost of gas for you car

Based upon the current projections economists are forecasting $4+ a gallon for all fuels.

This translates into a 8-17% cost increase in all goods and services due to higher energy and transportation costs.

It also looks like it could be the last straw ( added to the sub-prime mortgage fiasco) that will push the US's economy into a serious slump. ( recession) .

As many of us are reaching retirement age, and were looking forward to taking it easy, traveling, etc in our golden years, it now seems that we will still be working if we want to maintain our current lifestyles, or at least I know I will.

fwiw,

Greg

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Based upon the current projections economists are forecasting $4+ a gallon for all fuels.

This translates into a 8-17% cost increase in all goods and services due to higher energy and transportation costs.

It also looks like it could be the last straw ( added to the sub-prime mortgage fiasco) that will push the US's economy into a serious slump. ( recession) .

As many of us are reaching retirement age, and were looking forward to taking it easy, traveling, etc in our golden years, it now seems that we will still be working if we want to maintain our current lifestyles, or at least I know I will.

fwiw,

Greg

I am still trying to figure out why the government's CPI figures exclude food and energy costs as that is where MOST of us are getting slaughtered. I should say I understand "why" normally as day to day changes don't effect sticky pricing but when this has been going on for nearly 2 years I think the way the CPI is configured should be changed.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

This is a big issue. Oil shocks usually are. This could lead to stagflation like in the Carter years.

The biggest opportunity this is creating is for non-US citizens to buy up US Real Estate.

High trade and budget deficits lead to a lowering dollar.

High Oil keeps inflation high even in a recession. High inflation leads to pressure from employees for higher wages.

Bursting of the Real Estate bubble are keeping housing prices depressed.

The hatred for Bush will allow the democrats to take the White House. Their social programs and inability to withdraw from Iraq will make the fiscal mess even worse as they put their head in the sand on Social Security, dramatically increase entitlements through Universal Care and other big goverment programs. Their removal of the Bush tax cuts will further cripple the economy. The resulting capital flight to other countries will further depress the dollar.

All those macro level issues leads to a comeback in the housing market. This coming year may be the time to go all in to US Real Estate as a hedge against the impending stagflationary environment.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

This is a big issue. ... This coming year may be the time to go all in to US Real Estate as a hedge against the impending stagflationary environment.

Now if someone from Dubai would buy my duplex, I can get out of real estate.

[M. Henley Class President Find all posts View Profile Close M. Henley]

And...

...gasoline (regular) in Murray, Kentucky jumped from $2.98 to $3.09 this morning.

[CarolF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CarolF]

In Australia, unleaded petrol is tipped to get to AU$1.50 per litre next week

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

I filled up yesterday with the pump price at $2.89. Today, in Minneapolis, it is $3.05.

[dale7 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dale7]

Gas in Oakland, Ca 3.19 gal

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

I read an interesting bit of data in a newspaper article today:

In '79/'80 when oil prices rose dramatically, the US spent 14% of our GDP on energy. This last year, even with the rise in oil, we are only spending about 7%.

Kurt

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

Jobless rate hits 5 percent, 2-year high

WASHINGTON - Hiring practically stalled in December, driving the nation's unemployment rate up to a two-year high of 5 percent and fanning fears of a recession.

Last month, employers added the fewest new jobs to their payrolls in more than four years, said the jobs report released Friday by the Labor Department. The report also showed that employment conditions are deteriorating, strained by a housing slump and credit crunch that are sapping economic strength.

The unemployment rate jumped from 4.7 percent in November to 5 percent in December, the highest since November 2005 after the Gulf Coast hurricanes dealt the country a mighty blow. Payrolls — both private employers and government — grew by just 18,000 last month, the worst showing since August 2003, when the economy suffered job losses as it struggled to recover from the 2001 recession.

The December employment picture was much weaker than economists were expecting. They were forecasting the unemployment rate to bump up to 4.8 percent and for employers to add around 70,000 jobs to their payrolls.

Employers have grown cautious as they try to cope with fallout from housing and credit problems and rising uncertainty about how the economy will fare in the months ahead. Galloping energy prices and bad weather in some parts of the country also probably figured into the weak job figures.

Manufacturers, construction companies, financial services all cut jobs in December - casualties of the housing slump. Retailers also sliced jobs.

The government added 31,000 jobs in December, while private employers actually cut payrolls by 13,000, underscoring the weakness.

For all of 2007, the unemployment rate averaged 4.6 percent, the same as last year.

The 5 percent rate is relatively low by historical standards. In the recession of the early 1980s, for example, the jobless rate reached double-digit levels.

Nevertheless, with the economy losing momentum, the White House and some economists at the Federal Reserve predict that the jobless rate will average 4.9 percent this year.

The health of the nation's job market is a critical factor in determining whether the economy will survive the stresses from housing and harder-to-get credit. The positive forces of job and wage growth have helped to cushion individuals from all the negative forces in the economy. The big worry is that people will clamp down on their spending and businesses will put a lid on investment and hiring, throwing the economy into a tailspin.

Average hourly earnings for jobholders rose to 17.71 in December, a 0.4 percent increase from November. Economists were forecasting a modest 0.3 percent gain. For all of 2007, wages increased 3.7 percent, down from a 4.3 percent gain in 2006.

High energy prices, though, probably made some workers feel like their paychecks aren't stretching as far as they would like.

To fend off the possibility of a recession, the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate three times last year. Policymakers are expected to lower rates again when they later this month.

The Fed's job of keeping the economy expanding and inflation under control, however, is becoming more complicated.

Oil prices briefly marched past $100 a barrel this week. High energy prices are a double-edged sword and they can sap economic growth and also can spread inflation throughout the economy if they cause a rise in the price of other goods and services.

Problems in the economy have elevated fears about a recession. The housing and mortgage markets have melted down. Home foreclosures have soared to record highs and financial companies have wracked up billions of dollars worth of losses from bad mortgage investments. Credit problems have made it difficult for people to finance big-ticket purchases and for companies to expand operations and boost hiring.

With the odds of a recession growing, President Bush is exploring a package to stimulate the economy. The president, who has been coping with low marks for his handling of the economy, isn't expected to make any decisions until later this month; He delivers his State of the Union address to the country on Jan. 28.

Many analysts believe the economy slowed sharply in the final three months of this year to a pace of around 1.5 percent or less. Growth in the January-to-March period also is expected to be weak. Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, recently warned that the economy is "getting close to stall speed."

The White House and the Democratic-controlled Congress blamed each other for not doing enough to stem the fallout related to the housing and credit debacles.


Jobless rate hits 5 percent, 2-year high - Yahoo! News